The Acid-Alkaline Diet for Optimum Health: Restore Your Health by Creating pH Balance in Your Diet

Everyone should be on this diet whether wanting to lose weight or just wanting optimum best health. A very straight forward book to understand the meaning and value attached to eating more alkaline foods -and i thought i was on a healthy diet already!

I bought this book about 3 years ago. At that time it was the best book I'd come across on this topic. The author clearly explains the basic concepts and clarifies some myths people may believe about what constitutes acidity and what doesn't. The book is brief, user friendly, and contains helpful lists.

I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue some years ago, and I have been suffering from bad digestive problems, insomnia and various other ailments for a long time. This book has made a huge difference to my life. I came to it thinking I knew quite a lot about diet and nutrition, but it has opened my eyes. Most importantly, it has made me understand why some "healthy" foods that many nutritionists insist are "really good for you" make me feel unwell. Of course asparagus, onions and garlic are "really good" for many people, but sadly they're not good for me. I feel unwell when I eat them, and Vasey is the first person who has given me an explanation that feels right: they are sulfurous vegetables, and sulfur being an acid, they can be hard to handle for a system that's become as weak and sensitized to acids as mine. There were many other revelations. You come across so much conflicting advice, sometimes it's hard to know what to believe. Some people tell you to eat lots of fruit "because they're alkalizing". Others, like Young, tell you not to eat them "because of the sugar". Who do you believe ? Well, neither advice made sense to me because my own experience was different. How could fruit be alkalizing when I felt so unwell after eating most of them ? Yet how could it be because of the sugar since I was doing well on "sugary" bananas ? Again, it is Vasey who has given me the answers: for some people fruit are alkalizing, for others they are acidifying. It depends on the person. Some people's systems aren't able to metabolize fruit acids, and therefore eating fruit can acidify them even more, but since the banana's acid content is too weak to cause acidification it is usually well tolerated by them. I believe Vasey is right because of personal experience. Tomatoes, too, make me feel unwell, and he confirms that they're very acidic. The list goes on. In fact, this book has been one long confirmation of my "gut feeling". What a relief to finally find someone who's spelling out what my body has been telling me for years ! I just wish I'd listened to it sooner. Vasey is a godsend, and I believe he really knows what he's talking about. So I'm puzzled by some of the other reviews here. One reader even claims that Vasey says soy is alkaline. Did we read the same book ? Vasey in fact says soy is a potent acidifier, it only becomes alkalizing if it is sprouted. It is Young who champions soy, not Vasey. The supplement section in this book is indeed useless. The author is Swiss, and there is a tradition of taking alkalizing powders in continental Europe, where you can find them quite easily in the shops. It's not so easy here. I did try the mail order addresses mentioned, but the products didn't work for me. I even wonder how much Vasey actually had to do with the mail order addresses for the American edition of his book, as he would never have approved of some of the products on offer there. He would never have approved of a product that includes lots of pho

I felt this book was very informative. However you may want to read this book first: Alkalize or Die by Theodore A. Baroody (Paperback - Dec 1991) Baroody's book will give you the basic information and then Vasey's book will expand on it and give you more details. If you read both of these books you should understand this subject quite well. Over acidity in the body's chemistry is the cause of many ailments which range from the common cold to other more serious problems not to mention general stomach discomfort. I think if someone starts catching a cold they should start eating a lot of alkalizers to starve out the cold germs. The cold germs feed on the excess acidity. One of the best alkalizers is asparagus. One of the worst acidifiers is white sugar which is basically a poison. Updated 12/31/07 ---------------- I just wanted to mention that I was tested for allergies before and after I removed white sugar from my diet. The second test indicated I am no longer allergic to grasses, trees, molds, and ragweeed. Jeff Marzano McCann's Steel Cut Oatmeal, Traditional, 28-Ounce Tins (Pack of 4) Sugar in the Raw Raw Sugar, 24-Ounce Bags (Pack of 12) LesserEvil Black & White Popcorn, 3.65-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12) Alkalize or Die